Review of Tank Girl

Introduction

2002 certainly seems like the year that Comic Book conversions made it big in the cinema once more, what with Spiderman ruling the box office roost and next year`s blockbusters likely to be The Hulk, Daredevil and the X Men sequel. But while this looks like a resurgence in the fortunes of the comic book movie, (I`d say graphic novel, but that takes too long to type) the comic book movie never really goes away, with one or other conversion usually gracing a multiplex somewhere. 1995 saw two prominent figures of the British comic book scene making their respective celluloid appearances. Neither received much in the way of critical acclaim, in fact it`s fair to say they were universally savaged. Most everyone recalls the travesty that was Judge Dredd, but the same summer saw Tank Girl take to the screens in explosive style.

In the post-apocalyptic future (here we go again) after a comet has struck and wiped out much of the planet, water is a scarce commodity and something that the survivors fight over. One man, Kesslee and his company Water and Power control the water monopoly. Rebecca and her commune eke out a living in the arid wastes by siphoning off water illicitly, but Water and Power won`t stand for it. In an attack, Rebecca`s home is destroyed, loved ones murdered and she is taken prisoner. She is defiant when confronted by Kesslee, but Kesslee is determined to break her spirit and devises a series of tortures. Kesslee has bigger problems though, as the demonic and elusive Rippers have been raiding Water and Power facilities. He decides to use Rebecca as bait, but the trap fails and his men are wiped out and he is horrifically injured when the Rippers attack. But Rebecca is free, and with the aid of a friend made during her captivity, Jet Girl she steals a tank. Tank Girl is born. When Tank Girl and Jet Girl find that there is another survivor of the commune, a little girl called Sam, they go to the rescue. Water and Power steal her from their grasp though and they realise that the only way to defeat water and Power is to find the mysterious Rippers.

Video

Tank Girl is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The image is a little soft but the bigger problem is the print damage. Particularly evident at the start of the film and at a couple of other moments in the film, scratches and blips mar the transfer to a lesser degree at other times. For a 1995 film it`s in an unfortunate state. The film itself is particularly low budget in feel and appearance. Most of the scenes are desert bound, but no expansive vistas here. Just find the most convenient quarry or disused factory and you`ve got most of the films sets. The effects are similarly tacky and cheap with some rather obvious bluescreen work as well as some prominent wires during the Ripper fight scenes. However I found that this all added to the charm of the film in a way. The live action is interspersed with little bits of comic strip narrative and the occasional animation sequence voiced by the actors. It makes for an effective alternative to expensive effects shots and also underlines the pop art irreverence of the movie. There`s very little CGI here and the film has a decidedly cheap and cheerful feel to it that actually adds a lot to the feel of the film. Mind you, Stan Winston does some excellent work here creating the Rippers, they are remarkably expressive appliances that the actors wear and the performance that they give are in no way inhibited by their complex make up.

Audio

Sound is available in DD 5.1 English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, with copious subtitle tracks. The surround is effective in conveying the action, but it is a little front-focussed at times. The excellent soundtrack offsets a fairly run of the mill sound mix. Graeme Revell`s music is almost lost under some excellent contributions from a wide range of music acts, from Bjork to Portishead, via Ice-T and Joan Jett. There`s even time for a Cole Porter number in the middle of the action.

Features

Trailer

Conclusion

I once said that there were three kinds of bad movie, the kind of movie that is so bad that it`s good in a masochistic kind of way, the stinker, and the nice try. I put David Lynch`s Dune in the nice try category and I feel that Tank Girl should be in there as well. Tank Girl`s biggest problem is the story. With a weak and disjointed narrative, events don`t really lead on logically from one another and character motivations are light on the ground. It`s a shame as the Tank Girl universe is obviously a rich vein with some amazing situations and characters as reflected in the movie.

I`m not too familiar with the original graphic novel, but Lori Petty`s portrayal of Tank Girl is excellent. She gives the character a cheeky attitude and irreverent defiance that light the character up. I love the scene where the tank cruises up to the juggernaut and she sits astride the barrel saying, "Feeling a little inadequate?" to the hapless truck driver. It`s the kind of attitude where she`ll flutter her eyelashes at you before blowing your brains out and perfectly reflects the attitude of the original character. Malcolm McDowell as Kesslee initially seems to reprising his generic bad guy character that I first saw in Star Trek: Generations, but when Kesslee meets up with Tank Girl, their byplay and one-upmanship is great to watch, but he does inexplicably turn into Muttley at the end of the film. Naomi Watts makes an excellent Jet Girl as the initially shy and demure character becomes more forthright and brash as the story progresses. Then there is Ice T as the Ripper T-Saint, Ice-T as a genetically modifies kangaroo. It boggles the mind. Actually all the Rippers are amazing creations and wonderful characters in their own right.

Tank Girl is most definitely a victim of that infamous Hollywood scourge, the test screening. Creative control of the project was removed from the hands of director Rachel Talalay and the final release was more a product of committee. Rachel Talalay has made her position regarding the final release clear on several Internet sites, and looking at tankgirldvd.8m.com she has published a comprehensive list of scenes that were dropped from the final cut. I`ve repeated a few of the prominent changes as described by Rachel Talalay below.

"Opening sequence where the comet crashes into the Earth and obliterates everything - lots of SpFx by the Skotaks. Little Rebecca in a trailer park, survives pathetically, like in Them!"

"Instead of all that lame-o voice-over which Lori Petty and I hated at the beginning, there was a sequence at White Sands where an old lady sand hermit digs up a bottle of water, dances a little jig, then drinks it like in an orange juice commercial, then a Water and Power pilot finds she`s taken water and brutally shoots her dead. He reclaims the water, but is attacked by a Ripper. Tank Girl witnesses all this on her buffalo."

"In Kesslee`s office, they made me use the TV version of the line `If you wanna torture, spank me, ...` The real version was `f**k me` which got changed to `lick me`. Go figure."

"Sub Girl - in the original script, Sub Girl was this real mystical space-cadet friend of TG`s, who said all these insane things all of which turned out to be prophetic and true. She always said she knew the Rippers, which no one believed, until TG gets desperate and asks her anyway. She also said it was gonna rain and she was building this arc to save everyone.
When we fell behind in shooting, her character had to pick up some informational slack about where Sam was, which didn`t really work for what I`d planned for her, so we ended up with that pretty awful scene in her place. But we also shot her building her arc, which turned out to be a sand-submarine. At the end of the movie, she plows through the sand and helps the girls defeat water and power and free the prisoners by blowing up W/P."

There are a great many other scenes lost and altered by the studio including a rather more intimate scene between Tank Girl and Booga as well as additional lyrics to the musical number. All these changes and more are described in the website mentioned above and if you are further interested in what Tank Girl could have been, then please check it out (beware of pop-ups). I get the impression that much of the exposition was culled from the film to make a somewhat more family friendly product. I doubt the film as envisaged by the director would have been rated 15, and the somewhat harsher edge of the graphic novels would have been more prevalent in the film.

Whether the final version would have been more coherent and had a strong narrative is something that we will never know. Personally I doubt that the additional scenes would have turned a bad movie into a good one, but it may have made for a more satisfying experience. Tank Girl`s biggest strength is ironically its weakest point. The light and irreverent characters and frivolous script that make the film so easy on the eyes also render it an insubstantial film that barely registers on the senses.

Dodgy story aside, I find that I always enjoy Tank Girl, if only for the film`s sheer energy and unique style. Lori Petty is outstanding in the title role and creates a character to rival Ripley from the Alien movies, but with wit and sass. It may not be the greatest movie ever made, but if you are looking for something different and are willing to experiment, give Tank Girl a rent. You may find yourself entertained. Where else will you see Ice-T as a giant homicidal kangaroo? Skippy from the `hood even. "What is it Skip? You say your homeboy just got a cap in his ass? You want me to go waste the mofo?" Ok I`m stopping now.